When she was growing up, writer Ashley C. Ford’s dad showered her with praise, through nearly 100 letters. Which he sent from prison. In this episode, Ashley talks about idealizing her incarcerated father — and what happened when she learned the truth about his crime.

It doesn’t matter if you play Americana, hip hop, or death metal—everybody comes from a family of some kind. Hrishikesh Hirway, creator of the podcast Song Exploder, reveals the hidden parenting stories behind some of your favorite popular songs.

What to do when your biological clock is ticking, and the closest you’ve gotten to parenthood is caring for an elderly chihuahua? One option: egg freezing. We follow a woman through the process to find out if it’s everything it’s, uh, cracked up to be.

Andrea Silenzi, host of the podcast Why Oh Why, is single, living in New York, and… looking for a man to be the father of her child. Which is tricky to bring up on a first date. So she did what any girl would do: she organized an aspiring dads focus group.